SAN DIEGO -- A mother shopping for a birthday present for her young daughter said she was attacked by a random stranger while in line at a Toys “R” Us in Chula Vista Saturday.
Melissa, who asked that we only use her first name, told 10News she was standing in the check-out line, with her one-year-old in the cart and her four-year-old standing beside her, when she was attacked by a stranger.
“You don’t expect to be assaulted in a toy store, in a random assault,” Melissa said.
Police showed her the attack on surveillance video.
“They showed her (the attacker) staring at me. Then she walked from my left side around to my right side and punched me and walked away backwards, with her hands up in air.”
“I believe she was trying to provoke me to distract me from looking away from my children or looking away from my purse.”
The suspect has bleached-blonde curly hair and was about 30 years old. She was speaking Spanish and was accompanied by a middle-aged woman.
“There was another woman standing to the left that walked out with her afterwards that I believe she was trying to either grab, like I said, one of my children or my purse.”
A Chula Vista police lieutenant told 10News he is investigating the case.
“I will be a lot more vigilant when I am shopping from now on,” Melissa said.
